Skid wheel tractor utility boom

ABSTRACT

A lightweight, hydraulically actuated boom adapted for rapid attachment to, and detachment from, a material-handling power boom. It comprises a base plate adapted to fit and to be latched to a cooperative mounting means on the free end of the power boom. A first arm is fastened to the base plate and carries a hudraulic cylinder. A second arm is hingedly supported from the free end of the first arm, the piston of the hydraulic cylinder being fastened to the second arm.

United States Patent [1 1 Carpenter SKID WHEEL TRACTOR UTILITY BOOMOrval R. Carpenter, 4347 W. 41st St., Tulsa, Okla.

22 Filed: June 24,1971

211 Appl.No.: 156,438

[76] Inventor:

[52] US. Cl. 214/130 R, 214/145 [51} Int. Cl. B66c 23/00 [58] Field ofSearch 214/620, 130, 145, 214/86 A [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 3,5l2,665 5/1970 Westendorf 214/145 3,232,460 2/1966 Rouse214/130 R 3,587,887 6/1971 DeCarli 214/145 [451 Aug. 21, 1973 3,587,8936/1971 Laken 214/86 A Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza AssistantExaminer-John Mannix AttorneyJames R. Head et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A lightweight, hydraulically actuated boom adapted forrapid attachment to, and detachment from, a materialhandling power boom.It comprises a base plate adapted to fit and to be latched to acooperative mounting means on the free end of the power boom. A firstarm is fastened to the base plate and carries a hudraulic cylinder. Asecond arm is hingedly supported from the free end of the first arm, thepiston of the hy-' draulic cylinder being fastened to the second arm.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PAIENIEDmw ma IIVVENTOR ORVAL R. CARPENTER 1SKID WHEEL TRACTOR UTILITY BOOM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field ofthe Invention This invention is in the field of material handlingmachines, particularly those machines mounted on vehicles which have awork boom supported at one end on the vehicle, and carrying variousappliances on the second end. More particularly, this invention isconcerned with a lightweight, hydraulically actuated boom adapted to berapidly and conveniently attached to and detached from the working boomof a small wheeled vehicle.

2. Description of the Prior Art There are many types of wheeled andtracked vehicles that have powered booms mounted on the vehicles whichcarry various types of materials handling appliances, such as shovels,scrapers, booms, winches, etc. These are generally large, high-poweredmachines designed for specific purposes, and generally unsuited for thefield of application of this invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention is an attachment device in theform of a pair of hinged, lightweight tubular arms. One end of a firstarm is fastened to a base plate. A hydraulic cylinder is mounted to thefirst arm and the operating piston rod to the second arm, so that whenthe base plate and first arm are fixed, the second arm will serve as ahydraulically operated boom. The base plate is designed to be rapidlyattached to a mounting means fastened to the power boom.

This invention is particularly designed to be applied to a small wheeledvehicle, which is known in the trade as the Bobcat," and is small andlight enough to be lifted from floor to floor, and be used in manymaterial handling operations in multiple-storied building construction.While the Bobcat power boom is of sufficient length to be used forconventional purposes on a surface, there are many building activitieswhere a longer boom, sufficiently long to reach from one story to thenext in a building, would have great utility for lifting small objectsfrom floor to floor thereby relieving the usually larger boom for groundto floor usage.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple,inexpensive, rapidly demountable extension boom attachment for a Bobcattype vehicle which can be used for lightweight materials, and which willhave a greatly extended lifting range over that of the main boom of thevehicle.

These objects and other objects and an understanding of the details ofthis invention will be evident from the following description taken inconjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT The device of this invention is generally indicated in thedrawings by the numeral 10, and the boom to which it is attached by thenumeral 24. The operating end of the power boom 24 generally comprisestwo arms 26, 28 which hingedly support at pins 27, 29 a mounting means30, having side walls 31 and a plate having a toe 32 at the front end.At the rear end is a plunger 34 operated by arm 36 pivoted at 38 andengaging the plunger by means of pin 40. A spring 42 keeps arm 36 in theposition shown, while a pull in the direction of arrow 37 will cause theplunger to be retracted.

The lightweight boom itself comprises a first arm 44, a second arm 46and a base plate 12. The base plate has at its front end a flange 16 setat an acute angle 18, adapted to engage and fit the toe 32 of themounting means 30. At its rear end the base plate 12 has a flange 20 atan obtuse angle, adapted to fit the rear end, or heel, of the mountingmeans 30. An opening 22 is provided in the flange 20 adapted to receivethe plunger 34. Side walls 13 may be provided to guide the mating of themounting means and the base plate, and to hold them in position untilthey are locked together by the plunger 34. Thus, when the toe 32 isplaced in the angle 18 and the heel is fitted against flange 20, and theplunger 34 past through opening 22, the base plate and mounting meansare rigidly attached.

As shown in FIG. 2, the arm 44 comprises two spaced tubular elements 47,48, which are attached as by welds 50 to the base plate 12 as is wellknown. At their forward ends the elements 47, 48 rotatably support ashaft in bearings 62. The shaft 60 is fastened to one end of the arm 46,which comprises a tubular element 58. The free end of arm 46 carries infixture 46 a hook 47, or other material handling means.

Welded to the elements 47, 48 is a plate 54 which supports the base endof a hydraulic cylinder 52 in trunnions 67. The piston rod 56 issimilarly rotatably attached to plates 66, 67 welded to tubular element58. Hydraulic fluid under pressure is supplied through hoses 69.

Thus, when the angle between the arms 44, 46 is widened, and the twoarms are almost colinear, the effective reach of the power boom of theBobcat is almost doubled and lightweight loads can be lifted through amuch greater range of elevations. When work requiring the use of theextension boom is completed, the plunger 34 is retracted by moving thelever 36 and the mounting means is removed from the base plate, afterwhich a different appliance can be attached to the mounting means 30.

While the invention has been described with some particularity, it willbe clear that from the principles which have been described, one skilledin the art will be able to devise other embodiments all of which areconsidered to be part of this invention which is not to be limited tothe abstract, the description or the drawings, but is to have the scopeof the appended claim or claims, when construed to the full equivalentsof each element.

What is claimed is: 1. In a material-handling vehicle having a powerboom mounted at its inner end onto the bed of said vehicle, theimprovement, comprising a lightweight extension boom for rapidattachment to said power boom, comprising:

a. mounting means including a toe plate on the outer end of said powerboom;

b. base plate means including an acute-angled flange at the forward edgeadapted to engage and lock to said toe plate of said mounting means, anobtuseangled flange at the rear edge of said base plate, said mountingmeans adapted to seat at its rear end against said obtuse-angled flange,and including spring operated plunger means on said mounting means andcorresponding opening means in said 5 obtuse-angled flange for receivingsaid plunger means;

c. first arm means attached at its inner end to said base plate meansand extending generally in a direction outwardly of said power boom;

d. second arm means hingedly supported at its inner end to the outer endof said first arm means, and including load attachment means at theouter end of said second arm; and

e. hydraulic cylinder means attached between said first and second armmeans, whereby said second arm'can be rotated in a vertical planerelative to said first arm.

2. The extension boom as in claim 1 in which said first arm meanscomprises a pair of spaced tubular beams attached at their inner end tosaid base plate and carrying a journaled shaft at their outer ends.

3. The extension boom as in claim 2 in which said second arm comprises atubular beam attached at its inner end to said shaft, and including hookmeans at its outer end.

4. The extension boom as in claim 3 including hydraulic means, includinga cylinder fastened at its base end to said first arm between saidspaced beams, and

including piston means attached to said second arm.

1. In a material-handling vehicle having a power boom mounted at itsinner end onto the bed of said vehicle, the improvement, comprising alightweight extension boom for rapid attachment to said power boom,comprising: a. mounting means including a toe plate on the outer end ofsaid power boom; b. base plate means including an acute-angled flange atthe forward edge adapted to engage and lock to said toe plate of saidmounting means, an obtuse-angled flange at the rear edge of said baseplate, said mounting means adapted to seat at its rear end against saidobtuse-angled flange, and including spring operated plunger means onsaid mounting means and corresponding opening means in saidobtuse-angled flange for receiving said plunger means; c. first armmeans attached at its inner end to said base plate means and extendinggenerally in a direction outwardly of said power boom; d. second armmeans hingedly supported at its inner end to the outer end of said firstarm means, and including load attachment means at the outer end of saidsecond arm; and e. hydraulic cylinder means attached between said firstand second arm Means, whereby said second arm can be rotated in avertical plane relative to said first arm.
 2. The extension boom as inclaim 1 in which said first arm means comprises a pair of spaced tubularbeams attached at their inner end to said base plate and carrying ajournaled shaft at their outer ends.
 3. The extension boom as in claim 2in which said second arm comprises a tubular beam attached at its innerend to said shaft, and including hook means at its outer end.
 4. Theextension boom as in claim 3 including hydraulic means, including acylinder fastened at its base end to said first arm between said spacedbeams, and including piston means attached to said second arm.